water advice 3000m

[stockpie]

Came back from a local car show an hour or so ago, bizarrely whilst on a country lane water came though my 3000M dash console mainly on passenger side was 3 miles from home no advanced reading on temp gauge(which may not be the most accurate electrics admittedly) so I limped home slowly despite no evidence of overheating on a very hot & humid Notts day. Opened bonnet no indication at all of leaking water all(new) pipes still leakproof and no moisture elsewhere. An hour later undid radiator cap...and it was up nearly to the brim give or take 2 inches . None in expansion tank though. Also water coming through console felt barely warm & was clean not the usual mode associated with 36 yr old cooling system with a variety of additives &by the time i parked up it had stopped coming through altogether. Traced lead from windscreen wash & ruled that out as well

As they say on these helpful sites "has anyone had a similar experience?" Advice/ suggestions gratefully received chums !

[heightswitch]

Heater matrix.
N.

[bluezeeland]

+1

[stockpie]

Thanks guys...is the heater matrix run from the main water feed? In other words is car unusable till fixed or do you think the only water i have lost is from that.....was hoping to use it later today but won't if more water deluge (about half a pint) likely?

[dryden]

You could isolate the matrix simply by bridging the two hoses that feed it..............Use a 2 inch length of 1/2 inch domestic water pipe.

[stockpie]

Sounds logical thanks for the tip..in fact i would d rather not have the heater in the car at all it gets warm in that cockpit even with sunroof open (which is my default position on the 3000M and my also webastoed MGB) so worth a try certainly. Thanks

[Adrian@]

On the 3000M the water valve has a link pipe on the matrix side with a restrictor inside (IF it has not been removed) and as simple as blanking the pipes off with bolts will allow the auto choke system to flow through the link pipe and work correctly.
Adrian@

[stockpie]

Have had a look assume the two pipes (one of which arrives at the matrix by a 3 way trunk gadget) are the two next to the battery and going into the 'made in blackpool' box where under i guess the heater matrix is .....or is it feeder pipes somewhere at top of footwell ? I hope its not the latter as looks difficult and prob a garage job!

[brhmtvrs]

I have a leaking heater matrix in my 3000S. Had it repaired and it leaked again after a couple of years. I replaced it with the matrix from a 1970 Ford truck or Bronco. Not sure if they are available in the UK. Had to drill one new hole and put a rubber plug in the old one. Used a strip of 1.5 or 2 inch foam strip to seal around the matrix. Cost about half what the repair cost of the original was.

Bill

[stockpie]

Strangely its not happened since on short runs & just been out for 50 mike run again on a hot day....but did notice when i bought fuel that the bottle full of petrol leaded additive kept in the glove compartment...was completely empty.(And a loose'ish top)

Difficult not to be sherlock holmes here so to speak....although cabin pressure in a tvr surely not quite like a jumbo jet ?

[GadgeS3C]

stockpie said:

Difficult not to be sherlock holmes here so to speak....although cabin pressure in a tvr surely not quite like a jumbo jet ?

When you've eliminated the impossible, what remains, however improbable must be the truth. Or something like that!

So must be the jet like acceleration

[bluezeeland]

No wonder you were 'hazy', that crap is an ether...........lol !

[stockpie]

Guess this last comment re-ignites the 'additives debate'. Tracing old feeds on this website seems to be no definite rule on what to use (if anything?) on a V6 that hasn't been run for best part of two decades with 63k on the clock. And certainly not had a head conversion. Anyone else been in same boat?

[prideaux]

stockpie said:

Guess this last comment re-ignites the 'additives debate'. Tracing old feeds on this website seems to be no definite rule on what to use (if anything?) on a V6 that hasn't been run for best part of two decades with 63k on the clock. And certainly not had a head conversion. Anyone else been in same boat?

I think its a moving goal post as time goes by and fuels change there is new products all the time and even those of us with converted engines will probably need to start adding additives as a greater amount of ethanol gets in our fuels really best to research it yourself and make a choice most on here dont do enough miles a year to really test a product like additive apart from saying what they use.
A

[bluezeeland]

stockpie said:

Guess this last comment re-ignites the 'additives debate'.

By no means ! But as you started it Up to rebuilding my engine with stage II heads, which are unleaded converted too, as it would be silly not to....) I've used a lead-additive, as a precaution, on rebuild valves proved to be in good condition.

As Andrew says, we propably are to use ethanol 'fighters' soon..........

[stockpie]

Thanks guys comments helpful..... as you both seem to say best to look at overall picture and make decisions accordingly.